Benvenidos..

 

Near..

 

Israel’s military says it has encircled Jabalya, northern Gaza and launched a new ground operation, after seeing signs of Hamas rebuilding, despite nearly a year of fighting and strikes in the territory.

The attention shifts to Lebanon after Israeli forces escalated their attacks on the Hezbollah militant group, Israel continues to operate across Gaza and is again focusing on an area it previously said was rid of Hamas.

Elsewhere in Gaza, at least 25 people are confirmed dead after Israeli airstrikes hit a mosque and a school in the center of the territory, hospital officials say. Israel said Hamas was embedded in both buildings.

One year of killings and it seems that the circle is completed, and the end became the beginning of a new killing.  

Squatters..

 

Almost two dozen disheveled squatters tormented and terrorized the residents and businesses surrounding a vacant $4 million Brooklyn brownstone they commandeered.

The young miscreants stole packages off neighbor’s porches, threatened passersby, damaged private property, got high on the stoop, and set off fireworks in the early morning hours, neighbors told The Post.

The squatters — including one who walks with a cane busted into an attached carriage house behind the building. They then used sheets of corrugated steel to barricade those doors. Computers stored inside were also stolen, allegedly. [ NY Post.]

Finance..

 

While the BRICS alliance is strengthening its banking system, the US seems to be on a downhill. In the last three years alone, 15 US banks collapsed renewing fears of financial instability across the country. 

The BRICS bloc has pushed de-dollarization efforts especially since it expanded its numbers. Now, the pressure is mounting on the US dollar, as the country’s banks face over $500 billion in unrealized losses, according to a new report.

A finance expert at Florida Atlantic University revealed that the United States’ unrealized losses on investment securities are over $500 billion as of the end of Q2 2024. This is a slight downtrend from the first quarter of the year: a decrease to $513 billion from $516 billion.

 However, it’s still a significant loss for one of the strongest economies in the world. 

Banks are now saddled with more than half a trillion dollars on the balance sheets in their papers. The development shows that the US banks are at risk while the central banks of BRICS are massively accumulating gold to hedge against the US dollar.

Cappuccino..

Danish scientists discovered that, for example, cappuccino has a greater anti-inflammatory effect than an Americano. But that doesn't mean that a cup of black coffee is unhealthy. During the studies, researchers also confirmed that coffee contains minerals and antioxidants, which can reduce the risk of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. Thanks to the caffeine content and its appetite-suppressing properties, it can help treat obesity. However, the type of coffee is not insignificant.

Danish studies focused on the fact that proteins found in milk and antioxidants from coffee together double the anti-inflammatory properties in immune cells. This means that coffee with milk impacts health differently than black coffee. Scientists used a model of artificial inflammation in cultures of immune cells to study the anti-inflammatory effect of combining polyphenols with proteins. Still, it can be assumed that such a combination would benefit the human body equally.

Everything indicates that white coffee has more anti-inflammatory properties than black coffee

Victim..

 
One of the most damaging, at least monetarily, was the lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James alleging that Trump overstated the values of some of his properties for the purpose of getting lower interest rates on real estate loans.

It was a weak case, at best, for two reasons. 

First, it was politically motivated.  James had run for office on a platform of pursuing Trump. "We will all rise up and resist this man," she once told a campaign crowd, "and ultimately, we'll bring him down." 

Second, the trial revealed, in the words of this newsletter [Washington Examiner] , "that there were no victims, that the loans were paid back in a 'timely and total' fashion, that the lending institutions made the loans based not on Trump's representations but on their own research, and that some of those institutions were eager to do business with Trump again." 

The suit should never have been brought, but even after James decided to go ahead, any penalty should have been small. Just a thought.

I've..

 

Mission Creep ..

 

A least two of the justices from the five-justice panel from the Appellate Division, First Judicial Department — the state's second-highest court — seemed skeptical about the enormity of the judgment handed down in the case, which has ballooned to $489 million. One of the justices called the "immense" amount "troubling."

But Judge Peter H. Moulton questioned if James’ office was engaging in “mission creep,” and whether the law she sued Trump under had “morphed into something that it was not meant to do.” 

At the same time, Moulton suggested the lawsuit and actions like it may deter similar actions going forward, reasoning that “in the future, some deal might not go down well and someone would be harmed by that.” Just a thought.

Recruit..

 

Ryan Wesley Routh, the gunman suspected of being involved in a second assassination plot on former president Donald Trump, was interviewed by The New York Times in 2023 about the U.S. civilian war effort in Ukraine. 

The 58-year-old man, told reporters he traveled to the Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion and also wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight there

Few details have been released about Routh, who allegedly carried an AK-47-style rifle and scope onto the grounds near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club. His social media, however, feature slews of posts and messaging about his support for the Ukrainian forces. 

Honest..

 

The former New York prosecutor of Orange County, Stewart Rosenwasser, 72, allegedly accepted $63,000 in bribe payments while he was the chief counsel to the District Attorney's Office and executive assistant district attorney.  

He fatally shot himself as FBI agents tried to arrest him.   

The indictment including bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, wire fraud, extortion under color of official right and making false statements.

He seized money from the Mout'z "Marty" Soudani's relatives, which he funneled into the former restaurant owner's pockets "as restitution."